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Ripped from the headlines
Law & Order episodes are often advertised as being "ripped from the headlines." Many people mistake this to mean that they are based on real events. In reality, the slogan refers to the franchise's practice of coming up with stories that are partially inspired by recent headlines. However, with few exceptions, only a fairly small portion of the episode resembles the real incident or incidents that it is inspired by. There might be a few scenes that resemble a well-known headline, while the majority of the episode goes in a different direction, or there could be one character that is based on a famous individual but the circumstances the person encounters are largely made up. Often the plot of an initial portion of an episode resembles a recognizable aspect of an actual case, such as the 1998 episode of the original series "Tabloid", wherein a woman is killed in a car crash after being chased by a gossip reporter, similarly to Princess Diana's death in August 1997. This "ripped from the headlines" theme is reflected in the opening credits sequence that evolves from newspaper halftones to high-resolution photos. The rest of the plot, however, usually diverges significantly from the actual events that may have inspired the episode. Promotional advertisements of episodes with close real-life case parallels often use the "ripped from the headlines" phrase, although a textual disclaimer, within the actual episode, emphasizes that the story and characters are fictional. This format lends itself to exploring different outcomes or motives that similar events could have had under other circumstances. List of Law & Order (franchise) episodes Ripped from the Headlines Law & Order Season 1 * 1x01: Prescription for Death - The Libby Zion case. * 1x02: Subterranean Homeboy Blues - The Bernhard Goetz case. * 1x03: The Reaper's Helper - The Jack Kevorkian case. * 1x04: Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die - The Robert Chambers case. * 1x05: Happily Ever After - The Charles Stuart case. * 1x06: Everybody's Favorite Bagman - The 1986 New York Parking Violations Bureau corruption scandal. * 1x07: By Hooker, By Crook - The Sydney Biddle Barrows/The Mayflower Madam case. * 1x08: Poison Ivy - The Edmund Perry case. * 1x09: Indifference - The Joel Steinberg case. * 1x11: Out of the Half-Light - The Tawana Brawley rape allegation case. * 1x13: A Death in the Family - The Larry Davis case. * 1x15-1x16: The Torrents of Greed - Based on the life of John Gotti and the New York Mob. * 1x17: Mushrooms - Inspired by real-life cases of young children hit by stray bullets in large U.S. cities. * 1x19: The Serpent's Tooth - The Lyle and Erik Menendez case. * 1x20: The Troubles - The Joe Doherty case. * 1x22: The Blue Wall - The Joe Sanchez case. Season 2 * 2x01: Confession - The Oreste Fulminante case. * 2x02: The Wages of Love - The Betty Broderick case. * 2x05: God Bless the Child - The Alex Dale Morris case. * 2x07: In Memory Of... - The George Franklin case. * 2x08: Out of Control - An actual rape case at St. John's University in Collegeville, Jamaica, New York. * 2x09: Renunciation - The Pamela Smart case. * 2x10: Heaven - Based on the The Happy Land Fire caused by Julio González. * 2x11: His Hour Upon the Stage - The Roy Radin case. * 2x12: Star Struck - The cases of Rebecca Schaeffer, Theresa Saldana & Andrea Evans. * 2x13: Severance - The CBS Murders case. * 2x16: Vengeance - The Albert DeSalvo case. * 2x18: The Fertile Fields - The Crown Heights Riot of 1991. * 2x20: Intolerance - The Wanda Holloway case. Season 3 * 3x02: Conspiracy - The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X assassinations. * 3x03: Forgiveness - The Bonnie Garland case. * 3x11: Extended Family - The Faye Yager case. * 3x13: Night and Fog - The John Demjanjuk ("Ivan the Terrible") case. * 3x17: Conduct Unbecoming - Based on the Tailhook Association scandal. Season 4 * 4x01: Sweeps - Based on a 1988 episode of Geraldo. * 4x03: Discord - The Mike Tyson rape case. * 4x05: Black Tie - The Sunny von Bülow case. * 4x07: Apocrypha - The Charles Manson case. Season 5 Season 6 Season 7 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit